Strange Fears and Phobias

Today I saw this on tastefullyoffensive.com:

At first, I though, "This is absolutely hilarious!!" Then, I thought of a friend of mine who has a horrible fear of planes falling from the sky. Not like a, "Oh, I haven't flown in a few years, I hope this plane doesn't malfunction and fall to the ground," more like a "Do y'all hear that plane? Everybody run to the basement!" kind of phobia.

I'm used to it now, but when I first witnessed her reaction to an airplane flying 30,000 feet overhead, I thought she was joking. It is slightly funny, but certainly not to her. To her, it's embarrassing and humiliating. I haven't seen her in a while, so I hope she has overcome this fear.

This week, however, I heard of another strange phobia from a customer who came in the office. He was convinced that the electricity in his home was making him sick. I was tempted to laugh, but this poor man was serious as can be. I recently saw a feature on TV about this sort of thing (see this article). It's called electrosensitivity. Basically, it's a disorder where people believe that the electricity inside their home is making them sick. In extreme cases, they move to communal or remote areas and resort to life with electricity.

It made me think about the things I'm afraid of (like the two snakes I encountered last night and spiders) and how just because these fears don't effect my life in the most extreme ways, maybe the smaller, more subtle ones do. Internal fears, like being afraid of rejection or trying new things. These fears often paralyze me from taking chances and stepping out of my comfort zone. These fears prevent me from living life to the absolute fullest. How many treasures and nuggets of wisdom have I passed up because I was afraid? I'd really hate to know.

So what's a girl to do? 1 John 4:18-19 says, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us." (NIV)

Matthew 7:9-11 also says, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (NIV)

These Scriptures have brought me comfort so many times in my life and I hope it does for you. It's SO easy to get all wrapped in in fear of the unknown and become paralyzed and oppressed by it, but God loves us with a PERFECT love and if we put our trust in His great love for us, what do we really have to fear?

I hope this little blog encourages you to stop living in fear...of whatever it is you're afraid of.
Come on! Let's all step into the sunshine, breathe the fresh air and trust God to keep those silly airplanes flying safely above the clouds.

Peace out,
V